On Sunday, November 15, the people in the seats at the Aventura Arts & Cultural Center will decide which young pianist goes to Italy. Fourteen pianists from around the world will play back to back that day in the Glocal Piano Festival, an official preliminary round of the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition, and the audience, not a panel of professionals, will vote one of them through to the competition in Bolzano in August 2027.

The Miami International Piano Festival is presenting the day in partnership with the Busoni Competition, with the City of Aventura, the Aventura Arts & Cultural Center and Steinway & Sons listed as collaborators.

One round of a worldwide search

The Busoni Competition, based in Bolzano, runs its preliminary rounds this season as a traveling festival: 120 pianists on three continents, playing piano marathons in concert halls that include the Wiener Konzerthaus in Vienna, Salle Cortot in Paris, the Shanghai Symphony Hall, Toppan Hall in Tokyo and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. The schedule runs from November 8 in Florence to November 30 in Boston. Aventura holds the Miami stop on November 15, the day after Shanghai and the day before Tokyo.

Each pianist chooses their own repertoire, which means the day moves through a wide range of music rather than a set list repeated fourteen times.

How the day runs

The festival is split into two sessions. The first opens its doors at noon, with a welcome at 12:20 p.m. and nine pianists playing from 12:30 to about 5:30 p.m. The second opens at 7 p.m., with five more pianists from 7:30 to about 10:15 p.m., followed by the vote. Each recital lasts about 30 minutes, and each session runs roughly three hours.

The published order begins with Chaeyoung Park, a Juilliard Artist Diploma graduate who has appeared as a soloist at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall, at 12:30 p.m., playing Johann Christian Bach, Messiaen and Ravel's La Valse. She is followed by Sebastian Picht of the Peabody Conservatory, Xiaoya Wan of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Ruogu Wen of Juilliard (with Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit), Christy Wu of the Colburn Conservatory, Hanyuan Zhu of the Oberlin Conservatory, Mohan Jia of the Cleveland Institute of Music, Ariya Laothitipong and Yu-Wei Lee.

The evening session features Yangrui Cai, Robert Carlson, Yubo Deng, Alexander Grossman and Joshua Han. The festival's artist page lists each pianist's full program, playing time and biography, along with the cities where they were born, studied and now live.

Becoming part of the jury

A single festival ticket covers both sessions, and the sessions are not sold separately. Anyone can come for one session and leave, but to vote as a member of the Audience Jury, a ticket holder has to attend both concerts and hear all fourteen recitals.

The Busoni Competition's own rules for the Miami selection ask jurors to weigh each performance on artistic excellence, technical mastery, musical interpretation and stage presence. The pianist with the most audience votes becomes Miami's official representative at the competition in Bolzano. The Miami International Piano Festival adds that it hopes listeners will also consider individuality, imagination and the ability to connect with a room.

Those who want to serve on the jury, or who have questions about the day, can contact the Miami International Piano Festival at [email protected] or 305-935-5115.

A Miami festival with a long track record

The Miami International Piano Festival has been presenting pianists since 1997 and runs a concert series in Aventura as part of its season. The Busoni Competition is named for the Italian pianist and composer Ferruccio Busoni, and its Glocal format is its way of carrying the search beyond Italy and putting the first decision in the hands of listeners in each host city.

For residents, it is a chance to hear a full day of serious piano playing a few minutes from home, by musicians who are already winning international prizes, and to have a hand in which of them moves on.

If you go

What: Glocal Piano Festival, the Miami selection for the 66th Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition, presented by the Miami International Piano Festival.

When: Sunday, November 15. Session one, noon doors, music 12:30 to about 5:30 p.m. Session two, 7 p.m. doors, music 7:30 to about 10:15 p.m., then the audience vote.

Where: Aventura Arts & Cultural Center, 3385 NE 188th Street, Aventura, FL 33180.

Tickets: One festival ticket covers both sessions; tickets are sold through the Aventura Arts & Cultural Center website and box office. Prices are shown at checkout.

Parking: Free parking is available in the lots next to the center, in front of the Aventura Community Recreation Center and the Aventura City of Excellence School. Valet is $20 per vehicle.

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